Leaked Dev Guidelines Ensure PS4 and PS4K Co-Exist

With the PlayStation Neo leak a lot of questions have emerged that need answering. However, it is not set in stone that this leak is indeed true. So we will discuss everything we know about rumored console and try to elaborate the reasons for, can both PS4 and PS4K co-exist?

Sony has apparently supplied some rules and guidelines for PS4K development. With their help we’ll try to determine if both systems can co-exist and if this release is a good idea.

1080 is Mandatory:

According to the leak, Sony wants to offer higher resolution support for 4K screens and 1080 pixel is the minimum for Neo. Also stable or higher frame rates and better visual fidelity. A game’s framerate should be equal or higher than PS4.

However, there are no guidelines in the leak for ensuring rendering standards on the existing PS4 which is not not good for old hardware.

NO New Peripherals:

Sony does not want to make any big or controversial changes as there will be no new controller or peripherals for Neo. Dual Shock 4 remains the primary controller and all other peripherals supported for PS4 will be available for Neo, also any special game peripheral you have which is compatible with PS4 should run identically on Neo.

Interface and Online Gaming Remains the Same:

Online features would be available to both consoles for the same. PSN features will be the across both systems. You PSN ID will remain the same.

There can not be any Neo only servers which might create game balancing issues as Neo will run games on higher framerates.

Save games should be interchangeable between the consoles. However, it is not built in feature and developers will have to ensure this feature works for their games.

Games Compatibility

Sony is very interested in developers supporting games on both consoles and want developers to make sure their games are Neo compatible which are released for PS4 starting from the 4th quarter of this year.

Neo only games are not permitted, all new titles with Neo support use unified packages that run on the base model as well. DLCs are cross-platform and devs aren’t allowed to release platform exclusive DLCs content for either of the consoles. Games that you purchase, either disc or digitally, should be playable on both consoles without any extra costs.

Sony is very specific about what is or what is not allowed when developing games for PlayStation. It is clear that Sony don’t want to ignore or alienate its existing PS4 fan base.

Sony is developing an upgraded version of the existing console and at the same time making sure their huge user base for PS4 is not left behind.

With these guidelines I am confident that both consoles can co-exist but not without any problems because there are no guidelines for ensuring performance standards on existing PlayStation 4, as the developer’s emphasis may shift toward Neo resulting in poorer experience for the old hardware.

What do you think ? Can PlayStation 4 and Neo co-exist? Let us know in the comments.